My girls take piano lessons in a slightly seedy MA city. Each week we stop at Dunkin' Donuts. Last week a man, sitting alone, struck up a conversation with us. "That's what it's all about man. A father and his daughters sharing some donuts together." He was sad because his wife had left him for another man, and moved out of state. He said he didn't want to battle over custody because "a child should have a mother and father." He was obviously heartbroken.
Three weeks ago a tough biker-looking guy offered to buy some donuts for my girls. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He even bought them milks. Then he said, "Girls, do a good deed every day."
All I could think of was, "Blessed are the poor..."
Years ago... I used to watch Jimmy Swaggart.... and I learned tons about forgiveness from his teachings. When he fell....there were people who left the church, disillusioned and heart-broken.
One of my friends snidely asked what I thought about all those he hurt by his actions...and the first thought that came to me was, "If they walked away from God because Jimmy Swaggart fell, they had their eyes on the wrong man anyway".
That is the wonderful thing about the Lord’s creation and His power. All of us have the power to “see” God’s creations, no matter where we live or our teachings. If we look, we can see God’s creations and how masterfully they were made. Only a fool would come to believe it is all circumstance.
So, even without any teachings, we can understand that there is something that created this place. It is a first step to God and then with an open heart we will find the way to Him if we really want to.
Just look at nature - see how the animals each know to care for their young, know how to make their nests. This is all the masterful work of God and it shows love since each is so very different but masterfully make for their lives here. Then just look at an insect and see how it is made for its life. Then look around at the beauty in a flower, a dog’s eyes and the wonderful loyalty a simple animal provides. Then see the beauty of the design in all of it.
A true loving artist’s handiwork and it was given for man to be over.
If we can see this - what else is there to see and understand? This is just the very beginning.
We should never let man take this path to God away from us by man’s actions. Man is a mere ant, we are looking for the Creator of the universe and the absolute beauty is that we can talk directly to the Master of the Universe through prayer.
And then, some prefer trash and the dwelling in the gutter to looking above at the Master and what He offers?